Jinan in Shandong was the most congested city in the country in 2017, said a a report on China's major cities' transportation in 2017 released by Gaode maps, the research institute of Ministry of Transport, and Alibaba Cloud recently.

According to the rankings, the other top 10 cities were Beijing, Harbin, Chongqing, Hohhot, Guangzhou, Hefei, Shanghai, Dalian, and Changchun.

Among these 10 cities, Hohhot, Hefei, and Changchun were listed on the top 10 rankings for the first time. Although Jinan was most congested, its congestion level did not change from 2016.

On the whole, the general congestion condition improved nationwide in 2017. The congestion level fell by 2.45 percent compared to that in 2016, which was almost the same as that in 2015.

The congestion level in 51 percent cities declined, 27 percent saw no change and 22 percent reported an increase compared to that in 2016.

The month of December saw most congestion both in 2017 and 2015, while in 2016 September recorded worst congestion due to the odd-and-even license plate rule's implementation in many northern cities.

The report also shed light on other traffic conditions: Xi'an had the best effect of the odd-and-even license plate rule; Harbin, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Qingyuan were most congested during morning rush hours, evening rush hours, off-peak hours, and holidays respectively; Jinan had the longest hours of traffic congestion; and Hong Kong had the highest cost of traffic congestion.

The congestion-delay index was chosen as the evaluating indicator to measure a city's traffic congestion level, which objectively and multidimensionally reflected a city's traffic congestion condition and its treating effect, also could provide valuable evidence for public transportation, institute research and government policies.